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Dusty Shell

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I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom and I live in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains.  I am a city girl, born and bred, but I met my Southern gentleman while attending college and have been embracing this more rural lifestyle for nearly 10 years. Living in a place where tractors cause traffic jams and cows graze in the field across the street was quite the change from the busy hubbub of the D.C. metropolitan area, but I’ve found that the tranquility and slower pace of life suits me and it’s a wonderful place to raise a family.

If you would have asked me 8 years ago if I was passionate about breastfeeding, I’d likely have ambivalently shrugged my shoulders and muttered, “Not really.”  I was pregnant with my first child, but had never known anyone that had chosen to nurse their children.  I had decided to give it a try but I was completely willing to move to formula if breastfeeding didn’t work out.  Little did I know that not only would things go well, but that I’d go on to spend the next near decade nursing babies and toddlers!

When my oldest child was born, I had a little bit of a learning curve when she couldn’t latch on properly on one side.  It was hard and coupled with the sleep deprivation and uncertainty of my own capabilities that often accompanies the postpartum period, I thought about giving up.  Something kept me from waving the white flag and after getting over the initial hump, I went on to have a successful breastfeeding relationship with my daughter until she was 14 months old.

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I am so glad that I didn’t give up way back then because I’ve now had extended breastfeeding experiences with two more of my children, one nursing until he was two weeks shy of his second birthday and the other nursing  until she was 29 months old.  I recently gave birth to my fourth child and look forward to many more months of this bonding experience with him as well!

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I am honored to now be a part of the Breastfeeding Place team and I’m excited to reach out to help and encourage breastfeeding moms to the best of my ability!

You can also find me blogging about my life, homeschooling, homemaking, faith, motherhood and more over at To the Moon and Back. You can also join me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.